Just south of Zincher's tent, you see obvious scuff marks in the dirt, leading to a set of thorny shrubs. Behind the shrubs is a well-hidden path that appears to lead to the southern cliffs.
"We keep good eye-out and ear-out for zombies and notlions and things, yes?" Anklebiter says as he scuttles along in Lefrik's wake.
"Or we could talk a lot and let them get the drop on us..." Calla says quietly as she begins following the trail, bow out with an arrow nocked.
Kel adopts herd mentality and tries her best to stay in the middle of the pack as they move towards the cliffs.
Lefrik follows, weapon ready as they track.
The track was barely more than a six inch wide trail for the first quarter hour, only widening as you go to the cliffs themselves. There, it became wider and a little more obvious. It led to a narrow ledge that wound its way down the cliffside. The narrow ledge never got less than three feet wide, but its open side fell straight off into the crashing sea below. The path ended about fifteen feet above the waves, with no cave or other entrance into the rock.
"I hardly think they built a trail to nowhere. We must be missing something. See anything, Beardless?"
The half-elf looks around, trying to see if there is some sort of secret passage or boat moorings or something.
Anklebiter repeatedly casts cantrips as the group follows the trail.
"This looks like a good spot for those magic slippers," the Goblin notes as he looks down, his ears folding back in alarm. "Better break out the ropes."
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"Definitely," Bruendor said as he removed his pack. "I'll yell if I need to be hauled back up." He tied the ropes to his waist, activated the magic in his shoes, and walked down the Cliffside towards the ledge.
I doubt there's any traps, but if there are, it's almost assuredly magic. Checking my way down. Speaking of, how far down is this ledge?
Minky chitters when she sees Bruendor start going down the cliff, and follows after. If possible, she will settle down on his shoulder and start picking his hair in hopes of fleas or other tasty treats while keeping an extra pair of eyes out...
As the party makes their way down the trail, Kel concentrates, searching for the telltale signs of magic.
"Could an entrance be below the water line?" Fearfully she glances over the edge of the trail to the surf below.
Detect Magic gives no additional information about the trail or its end. Neither does Bruendor or Minky see anything as they climb down the cliff to the water fifteen feet below. Calla spent her energies focusing on the interior wall of the dead-end. Finally, she found some scuff marks in the rocky trail indicating the presence of a secret door. A few more minutes of searching showed her the edges of a very well-made secret door, blending into the stone almost perfectly. A small lever was hidden behind a patch of stone artfully sculpted and painted to look like a lichen-covered stone.
"Like I said," Calla says sourly, pointing out the lever. "Ready to enter?"
"Hold up," Anklebiter says, and he chants a brief spell. A field of shimmering force materializes around the Goblin, and he chants a second spell, causing four lights to swirl themselves into existence.
"Ready!" the Goblin pronounces, firmly.
"He has to be meeting with the drow," Bruendor says as he examines the door and lever for additional security. "[b]Nothing else makes sense. Who else would he be meeting here? If it were anyone else, then he'd be making them come to him."
"I'm not sure much has made sense since we started."
Bruendor went to work on the door latch, trying to see if it might be trapped. He was lucky. Just before he pulled the opening mechanism, he noticed the edge of a rune linked with the latch. It only took another minute, but he managed to separate the latch from the opening mechanism, and manually open the secret door. he held his breath, but whatever the trap was supposed to do, nothing untoward happened to him and his companions.
The door opened into a natural cavern, with water dripping down the walls. The cave itself is covered with bits of rubble and debris, much of which seems to be from a strange blackened rock, different from that which makes up the walls. The ceiling slopes upwards from the entrance, reaching a lofty height at the far end.
"Let's see if there's any sign the little bastard came this way," Calla says, looking around as her eyes adjust easily to the gloom.
"Magicked doors in the middle of nowhere," Bruendor says as he opens the door without incident. "Not good. Get ready to deal with casters, everyone."
"What is this rock?" Anklebiter says, eyeing the blackened stone with a dubious gaze.
"It's not coal," Bruendor says, examining it as well. "Maybe more starmetal?"
Kel squints at the black rock, "Is this what fell from the sky?"
anklebiter
kelendra
bruendor
calla
lefrik
enemies
Bruendor moved in to check out the cave, and his attention was caught by the blackened rubble. He wasn't sure what kind of rock it was, but the scorching made it plausible that it came from the meteorite. Calla came up beside him and was pointing out the scuff marks disturbing the smaller pieces of rubble when a series of clicks were heard.
Bruendor was hit by a pair of small feathered bolts, and immediately felt lightheaded. Calla was struck by the third, and both struggled to stay upright. A trio of forms descended from ledges high above, one dropping his crossbow to his side and drawing a rapier while the other two reloaded their weapons.
Calla and Bruendor must make a DC13 Fort save or fall asleep for 1 minute. Poison effect.
Calla takes 3 damage.
Bruendor takes 4 damage
Intiatives:
only Kelendra and Lefrik get to go before the enemies.
Calla curses -- "Bloody darkskins!" -- as she sees the trio drop from above.
Lefrik looks up and grins, whirling his great axe at the closest foe.
"How now, Foul drow?" He asks as he strikes
"Cursed drow!" Kel spits as she reaches toward the dark elves and sprays a burst of colors from her fingertips.
Before everyone can move too far apart, Anklebiter scrunches up his face and releases a pulse of protective energy, bolstering everyone's defences.
Bruendor hisses as two bolts strike him, and shakes his head to clear his swimming vision. When he does, a trio of the dark elves stand before him. "Oh, good, the indigos show themselves," he grins, reaching for his blade. "And three of you! This must be my birthday."
Bruendor, blocking the entrance, feels the swoosh of another flight of bolts fly just past his left side, one of them nicking him rather badly. He wavered against the pain, but still managed to get his rapier up in time to knock the dark elf's own blade aside.
AC 15/18, touch 12, flat-footed 13/16
Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +9
CMD 14
HP 29/29
Divine retribution (DC 13) 1/6; Judgments 0/2
Arrows: 0/18; cold iron arrows 0/20; bolts 0/17
Spells: 0/4 (first-level); 0/2 (second level)
Effects:
"Damn, too close for arrows," Calla snarls, as she slings her bow over her back.
"Calistria, bring your judgment down on these bastards for what they've done to your people!" she prays, as she gestures toward the lead creature.
Anklebiter chants a brief spell - "Simul clamo, simul moris!" - and points a finger at the one Drow he can see. Immediately, an unholy din sets up inside the dark Elf's skull.
"Oh, please don't tell me you're the silent, brooding type?", Bruendor groans as his blade clears his sheath. "I mean, you probably have enough to brood about, since you're not important enough to guard anything but the entrance to a secret enclave in the middle of sodding nowhere, but the least you could do is have the common decency to at least be engaged in this fight. I mean, we're about to kill all of you - don't you have any last words? Any final thoughts before we send you to Pharasma's judgment?" As he speaks, Bruendor parries and thrusts with the dark elf blocking the entrance, and beats the drow's blade with his own, knocking an opening up. He takes that moment to rush to his foe's left, using his left shoulder as a pivot to leap behind him.
Attacking the lead drow and then I attempt to Acrobatics through his square, landing at M23.
Kel prays for a blessing upon her allies.
Bruendor flashed around the dark elf in front of him, striking deeply with his own rapier as he did. Magic assaulted the drow, deafening him and sending him reeling into the wall. Lefrik took advantage of both the drow's misfortune and Bruendor's absence and strode forward, axe raised. The blade fell and the drow hit the floor of the cave, quite dead. one of his friends rushed Bruendor with his own rapier raised, but the dwarf neatly dodged the blow. He was still moving as the crossbow quarrel from the third drow skipped off the stone next to his left boot.
Bruendor thought about moving towards a flank on the drow that he was engaged with, but he thought better of it - the drow might be able to escape further into the complex, and raise an alarm. He stood his ground, and slashed at the dark elf before him.
Attack the drow in M24.
Lefrik moves to assist Bruendor and either strikes his drow, or the drow next closest to him.